The Case-Shiller Home Price Index Is On The Verge Of Turning Positive

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 1.1 percent in April 2012 compared to April 2011. This was the second consecutive year-over-year increase this year ...

For the 12 months ending in February, U.S. prices rose 0.4 percent, the first 12-month increase since the July 2006 - July 2007 interval.

However we are still waiting on Case-Shiller. On Friday I posted Zillow's forecasts for the May Case-Shiller indexes to be released this coming Tuesday. The year-over-year (YoY) decline in Case-Shiller prices has been getting smaller all year, and the Zillow forecast suggests the YoY decline will be even smaller in the May report - and be the smallest YoY decline since the expiration of the housing tax credit. I looked at the recent improvement in prices (comparing the month-to-month changes for the NSA index to last year). If the Zillow forecast is close, at the current pace of improvement, it looks like the YoY change will turn positive in the July report - it could even happen in the June report (to be released next month).Click on graph for larger image.Here is a graph of the YoY change in the Case-Shiller Composite 10 and 20 indexes. In April, the indexes were down 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively. Zillow is forecasting the Composite 10 index will be down 1.3% YoY in the May report, and the Composite 20 index will be down 1.0%. Earlier this year, when I argued prices were near the bottom for the Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) repeat sales indexes, I thought the year-over-year change would turn positive late this year or early in 2013. Right now it looks like the July report.